MWC SHANGHAI 2021: China Unicom and China Mobile executives highlighted Covid-19’s (coronavirus) role in accelerating digital transformation efforts across industries, urging players to work together to meet increased demand for digital services faster.

During the opening keynote, China Unicom SVP Mai Yanzhou outlined the operator’s plans to pursue innovation across 5G, big data, cloud, AI and IoT, but said it planned to promote sharing of key resources including infrastructure and R&D.

He urged industries to “work with each other in a deeper manner”, noting “as long as we work together, we can win together”.

China Unicom chairman and CEO Wang Xiaochu added joint efforts to develop a firm digital foundation would help “empower high quality growth of society and the economy”.

Yang Jie, China Mobile chairman, struck a similar note arguing “all industry stakeholders need to open your arms and work with each other…to promote the digitalisation and the intelligent transformation of society”.

He stated the operator aimed to significantly grow revenue and connections, and become a “one-stop shop” for services including 5G broadband, TV and private networks. He said it would work with partners to jointly expand the information services market; accelerate technology breakthroughs; and improve network and supply chain security.